iTunes Confession #3

I should probably stop listening to 99.7 on my commute home. If the angle of the sun is just right and I'm in a susceptible mood (like anyone else), I'll fall under a song's spell and end up buying it against my better judgement. The lyrics alone don't do it. Sometimes it's just the melody or the voice or both; or one or both of those combined with meaningful or evocative lyrics.

Yesterday's song purchase is hard to explain. No, it wasn't Mariah Carey's awful (and disturbing) "Touch My Body" song with its creepy line "I will hunt you down..." if she sees herself on YouTube after the hookup. I'm not that naca. Close, though.

I almost didn't buy One Republic's "Apologize" because I'm a snob and it's syrupy pop and it's overly dramatic (and I usually only tolerate that in Spanish). Its lyrics also gave me pause. The oft-repeated message in this boy-band sounding tune is that "It's too late to apologize." I'm more the judeo-christian "forgive 7 times 70" type (yes I am aware that I've revealed exactly how sentimental a fool am I). However, the melody won me over. It is quite compelling, but even more than that, it is, to my ear, diametrically opposed to the lyrics. The music feels and tastes like the most sensuous possible atonement, forgiveness and reconciliation.